The Age of Elixir

Talk given at ElixirConfEU2017 (keynote).

The elixir of life is a mythical potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and eternal youth. This elixir was said to cure all diseases. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir. Today, thanks to José we can all use Elixir, and once you have tried, it's hard to stop. Why Elixir is so addictive? How is it transforming lives?

In this talk we will take a fun peek at the development of Elixir, and remind ourselves how it all started. We’ll join a whistle stop tour through the years from inception, learning how both the language and the community got to where we are today. We’ll take a closer look at some examples of how elixir has transformed the lives of those who have jumped in with both feet.

Transcript

1. The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir The Age of Elixir by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith by Tanya and Keith
5. boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra boolean algebra
7. conjunction ∧ AND disjunction ∨ OR negation ¬ NOT
30. traffic lights
31. Digital clock
32. 4 bit ALU
38. Crash course computer science https://goo.gl/eCiHMn
50. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
57. Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey
58. Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ... Life before Elixir ...
59. fail compilation :-) “ ”
60. Hazy. Wandering through a desert that had little promise of Oasis-a place of tranquility and full of opportunities to do many things at once-trying to find easier paths that would lead to it whilst trying to avoid jarringly visual monsters along the way. “ ”
61. Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ... Meeting Elixir ...
62. Everything seemed like a "very good idea". The main libraries (phoenix, plug, ecto and co) seemed to be really well thought. “ ”
63. Elixir is great, the Beam is great, but without people like José the project doesn't work. “ ”
64. One of the things that helps me to learn is teaching, so I started answering questions on StackOverflow and in IRC about Elixir and Phoenix. This is when I started to feel a part of the community. “ ”
65. As I got going into Elixir I found that it brought more than syntax. It brought in tools and new features that really helped organize my code. “ ”
66. Happiness. Things started clicking and lots of "aha" moments. “ ”
67. Was blown away by a Ruby Rogues podcast episode that detailed the workings of OTP. “ ”
68. I went all in. Even though I didn't know much about Elixir, or Erlang, I wanted to tell everyone I knew about it. My friends in the JavaScript community didn't seem to share my excitement, so I was time to make some new friends; this resulted in me forming an Elixir meet up in my local area. “
69. Picked up the Dave Thomas book on the principal that if Prag Dave is excited about something then it's worth looking into. “ ”
70. Was like entering Aladdin's Cave. The BEAM shine coming from the depth's of the cave was dazzling to the eye and provocative to the mind. “ ”
71. Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ... Life with elixir ...
73. is great. I absolutely love working in Elixir and use it exclusively now. “ ”
74. The Elixir community is wonderful. You're all great. :) “ ”
75. I spoke at my first conference because of Elixir. I became the co-organizer of the Saint Louis Elixir group. “ ”
76. Elixir's Macro's are utterly wonderful, they are what make the language truly shine… “ ”
77. Elixir has rekindled my passion about programming and changed my professional life in many ways “ ”
78. I'm grateful because it allowed me to meet so many interesting people. “ ”
79. Elixir is teaching me how to design robust systems that are capable of handling massive spikes and self-heal when needed. “ ”
80. Working full-time as an Elixir developer, happy as a pig in mud. “ ”
81. Progressing into Elixir taught me that part of solving a problem is choosing the right tool for the job. “ ”
82. The language encourages me to break complicated problems into smaller, more manageable ones. “ ”
83. Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see Where do you see this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the this going in the future? future? future? future? future? future? future? future? future?
84. If we keep a strong community of people who are willing to be kind all the time we will push this technology to new heights. “ ”
85. The future is here. Elixir will help make it more evenly distributed. “ ”
86. In a few years, Elixir will be as ubiquitous as Ruby & Python are now “ ”
87. I see elixir becoming more and more relevant and spreading to fields other than web development. “ ”
88. Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes Processes
89. One actor is no actor. They come in systems. “ ”
90. When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a When we receive a message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: message we can: Create more Actors Send messages to other Actors Change our internal state
92. Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash! Let it crash!
93. {:feedback, message}
94. It's rubbish “ ”
96. receive do {:feedback, "It's rubbish!"} -> Process.exit(self, :kill) {:feedback, msg} -> IO.puts "Thank you for your \ feedback!" end
97. receive do {:feedback, msg} when is_positive(msg) -> IO.puts "Oh, thank you!" {:feedback, msg} -> msg |> constructive? |> helpful_for_future_improvements? |> act.() end
98. act = fn :helpful -> make_better() _ -> IO.puts "I don't agree..." end
99. receive :eat_vegetables do responses = ["I don't like vegetables", "What? Eat vegetables? Where is meat?", "No.", "smiley face with dull expression", "ha-ha. I eat vegetables... funny...", "What is vegetables?" ] Enum.random(responses) end
100. receive :eat_vegetables do nom_nom_nom_tasty_vegetables() end
101. receive msg do _ -> :noop end
109. P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N P A S S IO N E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T E N G A G E M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T C O M M IT M E N T T R A N S F O R M A T IO N T R A N S F O R M A T IO N T R A N S F O R M A T IO T R A N S F O R M A T IO N T R A N S F O R M A T IO N T R A N S F O R M A T IO T R A N S F O R M A T IO N T R A N S F O R M A T IO T R A N S F O R M A T IO N
111. I made up the term object-oriented, and I can tell you I did not have C++ in mind. I should have used a much more Process Oriented term for it “
113. 間 間 間 間 間 間 間 間 間 the Japanese word "Ma"
114. T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN T H E S P A C E IN B E T W E E N B E T W E E N B E T W E E N B E T W E E N B E T W E E N B E T W E E N B E T W E E N B E T W E E N B E T W E E N
116. - Alan Kay In the west, we're focused on the Noun ness of things, rather than the process of things. The Japanese have a more process oriented way of looking at how things relate to each other. “ ”
117. Computing is the exquisite blend between beauty and practicality “ ”
119. The stuff in between objects - the stuff we don't see. The space in between.
120. The space in between contains a rich tapestry The space in between is filled with Information
121. I think they’ve been looking in the wrong place - Joe Armstrong ErlangFactory SF 2013 “
122. The messages in between. The conversations. Thats telling you how the things interact. Thats how you truly understand a complex system. “ ”
123. Erlang Performance Lab
136. String Int Boolean String.length/1 is_integer/1
137. Programmers Elixir Programmers What are these?
138. Programmers Elixir Programmers Read a book
140. Programmers Elixir Programmers Listen to a podcast Attend a meetup Attend a conference Read the docs Create a side project
141. Elixir Programmers Professional Elixir Get Hired! Start a company! Opportunity?
142. Elixir Programmers Elixir Contributors Start a meetup Create a library Write a book Run a workshop Give a talk Submit a PR Create a screencast Review a book
143. ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows ALL these arrows have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing have 1 thing common common common common common common common common common
144. They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you They require you to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes" to say "Yes"
145. But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the But what about the Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory? Category Theory?
147. Seriously, his passion is infectious
148. Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of Growth of meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups meetups
150. Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms Call to Arms The power of Yes - use it! Transformations - the more you put in, the more you get out Community is the force Every process matters
151. Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Thanks for Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching Watching @ktec / @tetiana12345678
152. like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? like a plug? or an electrical socket?